The Night of the Stolen Gold
by The Mayor of Ninjago City
Summary: Long ago, when I was a 10-year-old girl, I loved watching The Wild Wild West on TV. I loved it so much that I wrote my own story about Jim and Artie. (Back then I didn't know I was writing fan fiction! XD) In light of the passing of actor Robert Conrad on February 8, 2020, I felt compelled to locate this ancient manuscript and post it. RIP, Robert!


.**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Howdy! I am The Mayor of Ninjago City, and from my name you can tell that I mainly write for the fandom of Ninjago, a Lego cartoon series. **

**However, in light of the passing of actor Robert Conrad yesterday (February 8, 2020), I felt compelled to dig through some very old papers and find the manuscript for a story I wrote at the young age of 10. Because I loved the show **_**The Wild Wild West**_**, I wrote a fanfic. (I didn't know at the time it was called a fanfic! XD) **

**For my Ninjago fandom readers who are not familiar with **_**The Wild Wild West**_**, it was a 1960s TV series about two Secret Service agents working for U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant in the nineteenth century. They lived in a fancy train car. Actor Robert Conrad played agent James West, who used his fighting skills to defeat villains and used his suave charm to disarm the lady villains. Actor Ross Martin played agent Artemus Gordon, a theatrical type who used disguises in the quest to overcome the evil guys.**

**In memory of Robert Conrad, I now present this decades-old manuscript. Rest in peace, Robert, and tell Ross Martin hello from me!**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

After a tiring day in the office, President Grant came home to the White House. He ate dinner, did some work, and then he walked down the hall to a locked door and unlocked it. On the floor stood a chest full of treasures which the President had saved from the Civil War. It was musty in the room so Grant opened the window. But he fell asleep with these precious treasures laying around and the window remaining open.

It was 3 a.m. when a prowler, dressed in a black mask and outfit, came climbing in the window. He carried a big sack. First the prowler picked up the golden rifle and placed it in the sack. And then he picked up the flag. This he folded up. One by one the prowler placed the treasures in the sack, but quietly, so he couldn't wake the President. Finally he climbed out of the window, got on a horse, and rode away.

At dawn the next morning, Grant woke up to find all his treasures gone. Desperately he looked around the room. But the treasures were gone. Almost at once he thought he knew who took them. Once a man named Tom Wendall tried to kill the President, but the faithful Secret Service agents protected him. Now Mr. Grant needed his agents again.

Later that day James West, the most important Secret Service agent, was riding a stagecoach heading toward the town of Arthur, Kansas. The stagecoach carried gold which was to be delivered to Platte Jewelry Shop, the finest in Kansas. The owner of the shop, Mr. Georges, was on the stagecoach. The other important passenger was Sheila Dixon. Her father was Mayor Dixon of Arthur. She was not married.

The air was cool and fresh but that was broken up by a gunshot.

"Get down, everyone!" Jim ordered. He climbed out of the stagecoach to help slow down the horses. At another shot the horses finally slowed down. Jim could see four men on horseback going to rob the gold.

"Okay, everybody out," one gunman ordered while another climbed to get the gold. But Jim made a quick move and they started fighting like cats and dogs. Soon Jim took a rifle out of nowhere and knocked everybody out. Then he began to study this rifle he held in his hands. On the trigger were the initials, U.S.G.

_Did these men steal this rifle? If they did, where are the other treasures?_

**Chapter 2**

Meanwhile, Artemus Gordon, the second most important Secret Service agent, walked up the steps of Platte Jewelry Shop. As he opened the door, a bell rang. Some tough-looking men were looking out the window. They glanced at Artie when the bell rang, then looked out again. The young clerk came from a back room. "May I help you, sir?" he asked politely.

"Oh, yes," Artie answered, "I'd like something for my wife for her birthday. Something particularly in gold."

"I'm sorry," the clerk apologized. "The next shipment of gold won't be arriving until after the shop closes."

"Well, perhaps I can wait for the stage to come in. Stage number 12, isn't it?" Artie said coolly.

The clerk called the tough men. "Boys," he said, "show this man the way out."

Quickly, before the men touched him, Artie threw a smoke bomb. It exploded and all the men were choking and coughing. Artemus ran out the door.

After the fight, Sheila invited Jim and Artie to the ball at the Dixon Mansion. Jim said Artie couldn't make it but he was going to escort the election opponent for mayor, Mr. Jason Music, to the party. So that night Jim and Mr. Music walked up the mansion steps.

Sheila answered the door. "Hello, James. Hello, Mr. Music. Please come in."

Just then a man walked up to them.

"Hello, Mr. West. Hello, Mr. Music." It was Mayor Dixon. "Well, Music, I hope you don't have any tricks up your sleeve."

"I am afraid I have to go now," Jim apologized. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye," they answered back. And Jim left.

But as soon as he stepped out of the door, Jim crept around the corner of the house. There were some bushes. Behind the bushes was an open window. This made Jim suspicious.

He climbed in the window. There was a hall with doors on each side. Suddenly he heard a noise behind the 4th door.

_Wendall and his gang must be hiding behind that door._

Jim drew his gun and opened the door.

In a flash, a pistol hit him on the head. Jim fell unconscious. A pair of hands dragged him in the doorway.

**Chapter 3**

In the meantime, the party was going smoothly for Artie until Sheila came up to him. "Come into the corner with me, Mr. Music. I have to tell you something." They went into the corner of the room.

Sheila told her story. "I heard my father talking to a stranger last night as I was passing his den. I heard Father say, 'We'll get rid of West, won't we?' Then Father wrote a letter. Here is the letter," she said as she handed it to him. "Poor James. His life may be in trouble right now."

"Poor Jim is right," Artie muttered.

Dixon was looking for his daughter. When he saw her, he also spied the letter he wrote.

When speechmaking time came around, Music said he wanted to beat Dixon for the safety of the people. Dixon was getting angry. He would take Jim's gun and kill Artie. Next he would kill Jim.

Back in the train car, Artie was taking off his disguise. He heard a knock. _That must be Jim_, he thought.

But when he opened the door, a group of men pushed their way into the car, took the letter, and seized Artie. They managed to take him with them.

When Jim woke up, he found himself in a hay-filled barn. Sunlight streamed through a hole in the ceiling. Standing around him were Mayor Dixon, Tom Wendall, and Sheila, who was held at knifepoint.

"So, West, that was the important thing you had to do last night, barging into Dixon's cellar," said Wendall. "Dixon here told me you were coming."

"We have a plan to kill you," Dixon added.

"Let me guess," Jim offered. "The rope is tied at one end and a lantern is tied at the other. A burning candle burns the rope, which goes thru a pulley, and the rope falls with the lantern, and I will burn up."

"Correction," Wendall added. "Both of you will burn up, for we have your partner, Artemus Gordon."

The men brought Artie in. They left the room. As soon as footsteps could not be heard, Jim and Artie turned back to back and Artie frantically tried to untie Jim's handropes. At the last second, Jim was free and caught the lantern just in time.

"I thought we wouldn't make it," Jim sweated.

**Chapter 4**

"I know where they keep the treasure," Artie suggested. "They are hidden a few miles east of Dodge City because they were going to take me there."

Then they rode to Dodge City for the night. They needed some rest.

They rode the few miles on horseback. As they rode past a big white boulder, Jim said, "Wait, Artie. Maybe I found the place."

He got off his horse and examined the big rock. On the other side of the boulder near the bottom was a deep hole.

"I'll check it out," Jim decided.

"But, Jim!" Artie pleaded. "It's very dangerous. One earthquake and you're trapped for good! Don't go down!"

"Sorry, Artie. It's a chance I'll have to take," Jim replied as he disappeared down the hole.

Jim landed on a concrete floor. There was a hall. It was quiet except for a machine noise. Jim followed the machine noise.

Sheila was about to be flattened. She was tied to a conveyor belt. Up ahead a piston was pounding.

Jim took Sheila off the belt after the piston was positively turned off. All Sheila could say was thank you.

Then Jim told Sheila to scream, in case the others who put her in trouble were expecting her life to be over.

"EEEEEEEEEEE!" Sheila screamed.

Next, he instructed her to walk to the exit.

Suddenly, he saw something flashing.

Just like Artie had said, there were the treasures!

First Jim piled some in Sheila's arms, then he took the rest. Then they walked quietly to the exit.

"Artie!" Jim whispered loudly up the hole. "Take these treasures!" Then when that was done, Jim told Sheila and Artie to move away, for he was going to blow up this place. The gang's headquarters would be blown up and they would think their valuables were gone.

* * *

**Unfortunately, I have lost the remaining pages of this manuscript. **

**However, I think I may have a copy somewhere. Around the time I wrote this, actor Ross Martin was starring in a stage play not far from my home. I typed up a copy and sent it to him at the theater, and I was so THRILLED when he AUTOGRAPHED it and sent it back to me! I will keep my eyes open for the autographed copy.**

**So keep your fingers crossed for a continuation of this saga! :)**


End file.
